From what I can discern, Tulsa King: Season 3 will depict executive producer Sylvester Stallone's one-time, fish-out-of-water general, Dwight Manfredi, in FBI custody and sometime thereafter combatting resentful crime clans, as a seasoned, NY assassin stirs the contentious pot. (Frank Grillo, now soaring high on Peacemaker, Robert Patrick, also soaring high on Peacemaker, along with Samuel Jackson and Beau Knapp, comprise Manfredi's circling competition.) These details are appreciated, but just knowing there's a new season (no matter the plot) has been reward enough.
For me, the anticipation comes down to a type of preordained timing. In recent years, I've grown fond of Mafia and gangland fables, thanks to their pulpy, Faustian undercurrents: something I became most aware of when viewing The Many Saints of Newark.
This Faustian angle thrives in The Godfather saga (and is alluded to in its making-of, The Offer), but let's not forget Scarface 1983, Goodfellas, Casino and (per its intricate entirety) The Sopranos. In addition, this forbidding, committal denominator permeates earlier, cinematic, gangster examples, like The Public Enemy, White Heat, Little Caesar, Dead End and Scarface 1932, where the pursuit of something sweet dangles from something wrong. One bite can ruin a life or for that matter, end it.
Stallone does a great job exemplifying the concept. I rank his Manfredi right up there with Rocky Balboa, John Rambo and Barney Ross. Manfredi has admirable bite, even though it's filtered through a subdued facade, but through that cool, the other characters, whether protagonists or antagonists, are defined by Manfredi's leadership prods within a modern, western context.
Now, there are those who'll scoff at my Tulsa King interest. These are the let's-tap-our-softie-side ideologues who wouldn't give any Faustian, balls-attached adage the time of day. It's just the way these characters are made, always demeaning what they'd like to be, since they're too craven (or lazy) to become it.
I really don't get it. You see, to me, sitting through something like, oh let's say, Yentl is nothing short of Chinese water torture. Big Fish (despite its deft cast) gets me hot under the collar for all of its romanticized lies; Too Wong Foo ... is so gaudy as to be dry; and even though it may be classic Disney, Fantasia ain't nothin' but one big-ass bore (and that's even taking into account its Lugosi tribute). Yeah, my detractors may say that Tulsa King is pedestrian, juvenile and outdated in its sensibilities, but I got more than enough critiques to hurl at them, and I guess for the sake of this post, I already have.
Be that as it may, Tulsa King: Season 3 begins September 21 on Paramount+ and will last ten episodes. When the run is done, I'll return with my assessment, which my virile inclination tells me, will be favorable.
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